Angel of Aleppo

Angel of Aleppo is a historical fiction about a young woman named Anoush, born and raised in Marash, Anatolia, who witnesses the brutal execution of her mother and is evicted along with the surviving other women and children, where she must learn to survive and protect her little sister while enduring the horrors of the brutal guards who drive them ever onward and the harshness of the land as they trek south towards Aleppo.

In addition, she is pursued by the local warlord for her beauty – he wants her for his harem – so she must evade him and maintain the standard of faith and goodness demonstrated to her by her strict but beloved mother. Anoush endures many trials, learns to nurse, becomes known as the ’Angel’ for her work amongst the oppressed and starving masses in Aleppo, and while she is sorely tested, she never gives up her faith, allows herself to hope for a better future, and comes to appreciate that love can be shared and can endure all things.

Angel introduces the reader to the narrative viewpoints of several characters, some actual historical figures, like US consul to the Ottoman Empire, Henry Morgenthau, German humanitarian and photographer Armin Wegner, and Adelaide’s own Reverend James Cresswell, architect and prime mover of an extraordinary humanitarian relief effort for Armenian Genocide survivors from 1916-23.

Anoush comes to Adelaide as the wife of a demobbed South Australian light horseman. The novel shows the connection between the Armenian Genocide and Anzac Day and tells a story lost from the Australian experience that needs to see the light of day again.